Featured Short

Lorne

Lorne, a wasteland traveller dealing with the oppressing boundaries of isolation, is confronted by a mysterious stranger, who helps him realise his existential fears.

Wonderful, crisp and breathtaking cinematography. The story of Lorne, (Guy Pearce) is grappling and tense, brining us on an edgy and uncomfortable little journey – in the best ways possible. Lorne, in short, is a very personal examination of ones self affected by self isolation. The film is set around a lonely traveller who has set up camp out in the wilderness, seemingly to hide from what the world has become, or what he thinks it has
become.

We knew that we wanted Guy Pearce to play Lorne, so I sent off a hopeful email and by a twist of fate Guy said he was interested. Guy didn’t just play Lorne, he became the character. I remember long phone calls discussing the smallest of details in the script, lines and movements of blocking leading up to shoot.

I truly admired and respected the dedication he put into this role. After workshopping the script with Guy we discovered a deeper meaning to who Lorne is and what he represents. I based a lot of Lorne’s thoughts on things I question myself.

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It’s mind blowing that I’ve been able to work with Guy as his film ‘Momento’ was the film that inspired me to direct

Being able to rely on an actor such as Guy Pearce must be a young filmmaker’s dream come true, and the performance he delivers is simply engulfing – the last monologue was one chilling bit. But none of this would of came through without the clairvoyance from director Jesse Leaman and his fantastic production team. It becomes quickly evident that every little aspect of the film was tremendously thought out, from the dust specs to the pin dropping sound design. Also, despite being mainly shot in darkness, the film brings an immense amount of depth through its cinematic choices, cinematographer Michael Wylam put some thought through his shots:

For me, the light and composition are always emotional responses to a script and performance so these both informed my approach to lighting the forest scene. We had specific references in mind that were rooted in an element of realism while maintaining a cinematic look and the delicate balance was challenging but ultimately liberating as we were able to hide a great many carefully placed lighting units in trees and deep in the background creating swells of light pouring through the canopy which enabled us to shoot 360 degrees in one long take. This freed up Guy’s performance, and my own in reacting as a first person character, by not being encumbered by marks while having key elements appropriately sculpted with light. There is such an incredible moment where a great actor gives a performance in front of you and you are lucky enough to have front row tickets on the stage of the visual language you’ve helped create. It was a pleasure to be looking through the eyepiece of this film and to work with such great talents as Guy and Jesse.